Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday permitted Lisa Cook to remain on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors while her lawsuit challenging President Trump’s effort to remove her continues in the courts.
In a 5 to 4 decision, the justices turned aside the president’s request to immediately remove Cook from her position as a Fed governor amid allegations involving mortgage fraud. Mr. Trump sought emergency intervention from the Supreme Court last September, but the court had allowed Cook to stay in place while it weighed whether to pause a lower court ruling that blocked her dismissal.
The justices have now allowed that lower court order to remain in effect as Cook’s legal challenge moves forward.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Roberts wrote that accepting the government’s position that Mr. Trump had the authority to fire Cook would “in effect transform the Federal Reserve’s for-cause protection into at-will employment,” a reading he said would be inconsistent with the law Congress passed and with the country’s longstanding practice of shielding central banking from political pressure.
The court stopped short of spelling out exactly what qualifies as “cause” under the statute establishing the Federal Reserve, but said any interpretation must take account of the central bank’s “unique historical status and role.”
The majority did conclude, however, that Mr. Trump did not provide Cook with the procedural protections required by law, including notice of the allegations and a meaningful chance to respond before her removal.
“At minimum, Cook was entitled to some explanation of the evidence at issue, some avenue for a response, and a deadline by which a response would be due,” Roberts wrote. “Because Cook did not receive such process, her removal was ‘erroneous and void’ from the start.”
In response to the decision, Mr. Trump indicated in a post on Truth Social that he would attempt to fire Cook again, writing that his administration “will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”
Cook said the president’s attempt to remove her was not because of the mortgage documents she signed several years ago, but because she refused to bow to political pressure over the setting of interest rates. The Fed governor praised the Supreme Court’s decision as reaffirming the importance of an independent central bank.
“Today’s ruling affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all its policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference,” she said in a statement. “This bedrock principle has guided the Federal Reserve since its founding.The Supreme Court’s decision to leave the lower court’s order in place and affirm the need for real process and real cause recognizes that Federal Reserve independence is essential to fulfilling the congressional mandate of price stability and maximum employment.”
Cook’s firing
Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
Mr. Trump moved to fire Cook from the Fed Board last August, a move that was without precedent across the central bank’s 112-year history. It came amid similar efforts to fire officials appointed by Democrats at a slew of multi-member independent agencies, and as Mr. Trump frequently voiced frustrations with the Fed’s interest rate decisions.
The president claimed Cook made misrepresentations on mortgage filings related to two properties, one in Michigan and another in Georgia, before she was nominated to the Fed by President Joe Biden in 2021. In a letter posted to Truth Social announcing her purported firing, Mr. Trump said he had “sufficient cause” to remove Cook because of what he claimed was “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter.”
Cook has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. She swiftly filed a lawsuit to challenge her removal, arguing that Mr. Trump violated the Federal Reserve Act. That law, enacted in 1913, gives the president the authority to remove a Fed governor “for cause,” though the term is not defined.
Cook also argued Mr. Trump’s actions violated her due process rights because she was not afforded notice of the claims against her and the opportunity to respond before she was fired.
A federal judge ordered Cook to be reinstated and found that Mr. Trump had not validly removed her for cause. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb also said Cook was likely to succeed on her argument that she was deprived of her due-process rights because she did not receive notice and the opportunity to be heard.
A divided panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia continued to allow Cook to remain at the Fed. The Trump administration then turned to the Supreme Court for emergency relief.
Unlike with officials at other independent agencies, the Supreme Court let Cook continue in her position as a Fed governor while it considered whether to grant Mr. Trump’s request to fire her. In other cases, the high court allowed the president to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission while they pursued litigation.
The Supreme Court also let Mr. Trump fire Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission and heard arguments in December over the constitutionality of a federal law that limits the president’s ability to remove members of the FTC to instances of inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
The decision from the Supreme Court came at the same time that it ruled in the president’s favor in the Slaughter case, expanding executive power over those bodies. In an opinion also authored by Roberts, the court’s conservative majority struck down removal protections for members of the FTC, a ruling that could have ramifications for similar agencies.
The high court had indicated before that it views the Fed differently than other independent agencies. In a May 2025 decision allowing Mr. Trump to oust two members of the two labor boards, the Supreme Court singled out the central bank as a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks.”
The dispute over Cook’s firing raised concerns that a decision from the Supreme Court allowing her removal by the president would damage the Fed’s independence. Looming over the arguments in January was a Justice Department investigation into then-Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stemming from renovations to the central bank’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Days before the Supreme Court convened to weigh Cook’s case, Powell revealed that the central bank had received grand jury subpoenas.
A federal judge blocked the subpoenas in March and rejected Justice Department efforts to revive them in early April. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office in Washington, D.C., was leading the investigation involving Powell, then announced her office would be closing the probe.
Mr. Trump had repeatedly attacked Powell over the scope and timing of interest-rate cuts. Powell’s term as Fed chairman expired in mid-May, and Kevin Warsh took over the role shortly after.
